Court acquits man accused of driving while drunk

A man facing trial for allegedly causing death of his friend travelling with him in a car which met an accident due to his rash and negligent driving under the influence of liquor, has been acquitted by a Delhi court.

Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Jyoti Kler let off Pawan Sutt saying he may or may not have been driving the vehicle under influence of liquor and when two views are possible “one in favour of the accused shall be adopted.”

“I am constrained to reach two conclusions. One that the accused (Pawan) was not under the influence of liquor and was driving carefully and the second that he may have been under the influence of liquor due to which he was not able to drive carefully and caused the accident.

“It is the settled principle of law that if two views are possible, one in favour of the accused shall be adopted,” the judge said, adding “I am of considered opinion that the benefit of doubt be extended” to accused Pawan.

The court also pulled up the investigating officer (IO) in the case for not collecting the medical evidence, which could have decided the case.

“Medical evidence could have thrown out the defence taken by the accused but the IO has not taken care to collect such an important piece of evidence,” MM Kler said.

Pawan had been facing trial in a case registered against him by the police for driving rashly and under the influence of alcohol.

According to the police, Pawan and two of his friends were on their way home from a marriage party at Sundervan Farm in Chattarpur here on January 1, 2011 when their car hit a tree due to which one Ashok Basoya sitting in the back seat had received injuries and had died.